The Unusual Avengers Legacy Protocol
by GalahadsGurl
Summary: Forty years ago – before there were the Brothers Grimm – there were the brothers Cahill; lab rats created in hopes of duplicating the Army's Captain America Program. Their creators could never have imagined that these brothers would grow up to be William Brandt, Jason Walsh, Aaron Cross and Clint Barton.
1. The Brothers Grimm are Born

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Chapter 1

Forty years ago – before there were the Brothers Grimm – there were the brothers Cahill; lab rats created in hopes of duplicating the Army's Captain America Program. The project was funded primarily by Howard Stark, rumored among the scientists to have been a friend of the actual Captain America. The geneticist in charge, however, was one Dr. Frank Cahill, and it was he who was responsible for the creation of the brothers themselves. There were five brothers in total, born and raised in a lab under the Hoover Dam, each of them tended to and protected by a young woman known to her superiors as Mary Peters.

Project Cahill was created to breed an Alpha Team for the Army of enhanced soldiers, each born with a specific function and bred to have all the traits best able to fulfill this function. The first three of the brothers had been unequivocal successes, each shaped by minimal genetic enhancement. William Michael Cahill was born first, born to be the leader of the brothers and bred to be super intelligent, highly analytical, and a first rate officer. Barney Joshua Cahill followed two years after, born to be the questioning second in command, rebellious and insubordinate. Jason Leonard Cahill came another two years after Barney, born to be the brothers' tech support and designed to be smart, responsible, and adaptable.

After these successes, the doctors and scientists began to get more inventive with their creations, playing God much more liberally in an attempt to make even more perfect soldiers. Kenneth James Cahill had been born to be the weapons and demolitions expert and had been bred to be physically strong, loyal and easily impressionable. Unfortunately, not a lot of time had been paid to his intelligence while they'd been manipulating his genome. As a result, the presiding authority over the project, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, considered him to be a failure as he failed IQ test after IQ test despite his prowess within the field he'd been born to fill. Ross ordered the 6 year old terminated; an order that would shape the futures of the Brothers Grimm more than any other occurrence in their lives.

Clinton Francis Cahill was been born next. He'd been created to be their sniper and had been bred with visual enhancements that would assist in making him the best at the job. The tinkering had improved his optical acuity a hundredfold, though it had had a negative effect upon his auditory receptors in that he was mostly deaf upon his birth. Fortunately, his aural acuity was considered expendable when the only purpose to his creation was to be able to see very long distances and to shoot things with 100% accuracy. Clint was two weeks away from his third birthday when the woman the project authorities knew only as "Mary Peters" kidnapped the brothers and escaped with them from the lab in order to save Kenneth from the extermination General Ross had in store for him.

"Mary Peters" was the pseudonym given to Marina Ivanovna Petrovka, a Soviet assassin and spy, by her handlers when they ordered her to take the position as Stark's assistant on the project. Marina Petrovka had been taken from her family at the age of four and handed into the dubious care of the Academy. The Academy then enrolled the four year old into their Red Room Program. They enhanced her, they molded her and they trained her to be a perfect spy for Mother Russia, all of it for the sole betterment of her handlers. The assignment was her first solo mission. She was sent to spy on Stark and report on his projects; instead she fell completely in love with the children created by the program, from the very first moment Stark placed an infant William in her arms and told her to care for him and all of the other children the project would inevitably produce.

Despite the deception she perpetrated against her superiors, Marina Petrovka was the only adult who had never lied to the five young boys in her charge. She was arguably the only one within the project to love them and treat them as children. Unlike the rest of her contemporaries, she never once treated them as weapons to be molded and used. She taught them to speak Russian, offering them each a secret language to protect their secrets from the hostile eyes that followed them everywhere. When it came to light that the youngest of the brothers had a very limited audible range, Marina insisted to her superiors that each of them should be required to learn ASL, so as to be able to communicate effectively with the hearing impaired child. Marina argued relentlessly with General Ross and Dr Cahill about allowing the children some amount of playtime, even if it had been only a slight handful of minutes that never seemed to last very long. She encouraged them in the training Ross imposed on them, held their hands through the countless physicals and exams that Dr. Cahill put them through, helped them with the simple things that children needed to learn as they grew up, tutored them in their academic studies, and practiced their hand to hand techniques with them. She was a loving, constant presence in each of their lives, and the boys were utterly devoted and fiercely loyal because of it.

At the time of their escape, William was 12, Barney was 10, Jason was eight, Kenneth was barely six years old and Clint was almost three; and yet they could barely be called children. The four oldest boys had all begun training within their fields as soon as they'd turned four years old. Only Clint had been spared the rigorous training that Ross had forced upon the project's creations as he'd been too young at the time of their escape. The only constant they'd ever had was Marina Ivanovna Petrovka, who had spent her own childhood immersed within a government training curriculum designed to transform a precocious four year old into a remorseless killing machine. The very act of pretending to be normal children was the hardest lesson they ever had to learn.

They'd stumbled around for awhile, torn between trying to hide from the Army and trying to survive. After being on their own for a little more than a year, the six of them – each strange and unnatural in their own way – finally found refuge with Carter's Circus. The Carters were a kindly older couple who took them in and gave them an extended, if odd, family of sorts. Marina left the name "Mary Peters" behind, effectively defecting from the KGB in all ways that mattered. Mrs. Carter, a warm and gentle woman they each came to call Babushka, teased the brothers relentlessly for their grim outlook on life, earning the brothers the last name of Grimm and the collective moniker of "The Brothers Grimm."

The circus became their home, the closest thing any of them had ever had to one. Barney fell under the wing of a pair of side show artists named Swordsman and Trickshot, who trained him to assist the pair in their act. William used his analytical training to take over the accounting from Mr. Carter, to whom math was a bothersome and always avoidable chore. Jason became the Carters' go-to mechanic and electrician, able to repair anything from a blown out fuse to their ancient PA system. Kenneth loved working with the animals, and even the most severe trainers adored the cheerful boy with the megawatt grin. Clint could always be found on Marina's heels as she moved about the chores she'd been assigned by Mrs. Carter, talking in Russian at a mile a minute just so that Marina would know he was there. At the end of the day though, each of the boys remained firmly under Marina's care and tutelage as she continued the academic tutoring and combat training the Army had implemented for them while they'd still been under the Army's control.

It was when William turned 18 that everything changed. It was June 12, 1985, when Will walked into the tiny railcar that housed the six members of their odd little family. Marina was sitting at the table with Kenny; the two of them were working on the 11 year old's math homework. It was no secret that Kenneth was not at the same intellectual level academically as the rest of his brothers, but he was in no way stupid. Will had kicked the asses of several of the other carnies for suggesting otherwise. Kenny looked up at the sound of the door, the wide bright grin on his lips lighting up the room at the sight of his oldest brother. "Will!"

Will chuckled, coming over to ruffle the younger boy's blond hair. "Hey Kenny. How's it coming?"

Marina's smile was indulgent and fond as she caressed the 11 year old's temple, "He's getting it. Slow and steady wins the race, right, _solnechnyy svet_?"

Kenny's nod was so emphatic, Will thought he was going to shake his head right off his shoulders for a second. "That's great, Kenny. I'm proud of you." Crouching next to the table, Will looked up into Kenny's face with a soft smile, "Can you work on the next problem while I steal Marina for a second?"

Marina's eyes narrowed lightly, and Will gave her a sheepish smile. If Will had a best friend, he would be forced to admit that Marina was probably it. He'd never been able to lie to her, even when he'd used her to practice on, and it looked like she was already onto him. Kenny nodded again, "Okay, Will."

"Thanks Buddy."

Kenny was already turning his attention back to the next question on his assignment as Will stood and offered a hand to Marina to assist her from the chair. Mercifully, Marina said nothing as she accepted the hand and followed him back into the tiny broom closet she'd converted into her bedroom. The railcar only had two actual bedrooms, and the boys split them between the five of them; Will, Clint and Kenny shared one while Jason and Barney shared the other. Sitting down on her tiny cot, she looked up at him with arms crossed over her chest and a wary frown on her lips. "All right, Misha; what are you kicking around in that brain of yours?"

Will faltered at the term; the diminutive of his middle name was Marina's alone and he never failed to fall even more in love with her whenever she used it. He took a deep breath and sat down next to her. Reaching out, he took one of her hands and held it tightly for a moment as he tried to figure out exactly what he wanted to say to her. "Marina, I want to join the Army."

The pretty blond blinked once, visibly taken aback by the statement. Once it registered, her whole body relaxed and she regarded him with a steady calm that sent chills up his spine. "The Army? Surely you don't mean the same Army that manipulated and abused you and your brothers simply because they thought that because they created you, they owned you."

The young man grimaced at her overly polite tone; he'd known that this conversation was not going to go over well, but he'd hoped that she would at least be able to accept the decision in the long run. "Yes, I mean that Army. Look, I'm not going to enlist as William Cahill; that would be stupid. I'd enlist as William Grimm; Mr. Stark created entire identities for us with valid social security numbers and birth certificates and documentation. And to be frank, it's probably the last place the Army would think to look for me."

Marina grunted, unable to deny that at least. She sat for a long moment, just watching him as she processed the request and examined every argument he could make from every angle she could find. Finally, she sighed and squeezed his hand once in reassurance, before asking, "Why, Misha? Why the Army?"

"I feel like I can do more. Despite how and why I was created, I am American and I believe that I have the potential to do more than this."

"This?"

"This; be a carnie. I can do something to help people, to be a better person than the Army created me to be. I want to take what they spent my childhood drilling into me for their own purposes, and do something for the good of mankind."

"What about the boys?"

"You'll be here. I know you, Marina, you'd never leave them. And it's not like I'll never come back. Whenever I have leave, I'll find the circus and I'll be here, I promise."

"And what are you going to tell the boys about why you're leaving?"

"Same thing I'm telling you. I want to do more than this. I will always be grateful to Babushka and Dedushka and the crazy circus freaks we call family, but I want more."

Marina nodded slowly, reaching up to brush a strand of blond hair from his forehead. Cupping his cheek in her palm, she brushed her thumb tenderly over his skin. "All right."

Will's whole being brightened at her acceptance, his body straightening and practically vibrating with his excitement. "Really?!"

"Really," she sighed quietly, "If this is what you want, Misha, I won't stand in your way. Just promise me you'll be careful. They're still hunting for you and the boys; you and I both know that. Don't do anything that would lead them to make connections between 'William Grimm' and 'William Cahill,' okay? If they take you into custody, there's nothing that I can do. I won't risk the other boys, to come and rescue you."

Will shook his head with a grin, throwing his arms around her and hugging her fiercely. "I wouldn't expect you to. I'll be careful, Marina, I promise."

Marina's voice was quiet and troubled as she held him tightly, "You'd better. Because I honestly don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you. So be safe, and come home as often, and in as few pieces, as you can."

There was a soft choke from the young man, his arms squeezing her tightly for a moment as he nodded against the curve of her temple. "I promise, Marishka; and I'll be back before you even have time to miss me."

Marina smiled sadly at Will's use of the Russian endearment; Will Grimm was the straightforward sort, and this was the first time he'd ever called her by the nickname that Clint had been using since he first learned her name. Tightening her arms around him, she buried her nose in his t-shirt and inhaled him as deeply as she could, "I doubt that, Misha; I doubt that very much."


	2. The Foot on an Unseen Path

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

AN: Okay, I love all the Followers for this. However, I haven't been getting very many reviews. With this in mind, I'm going to be holding off the next chapter until I get some kind of response from my followers. I know you're reading; now I'd like to know what you think.

Also, there are going to be Russian words used, written in phonetic Russian, in each chapter. These words will always be italicized within the chapter. If the characters are having a conversation in Russian, the translations will be in parentheses after the phrase. If it's just a single word, I'll have a list of words from the chapter within the chapter notes at the end of the chapter, and what the translation of the word is.

Chapter 2

By the time Jason had turned 18 and followed William's footsteps into the Army, Will had glided effortlessly through both Officer Training and Special Forces training with flying colors, had been promoted to Captain and been given the command of his own Spec Ops squad. Within six months of joining up and finishing up his Special Forces training, Jason was assigned to Will's squad as their tech support and communications officer. Marina would never admit it to either of them, but she was more proud of them than she could quantify. And every time they made it home on leave, she hugged them both fiercely, relieved more than she could say that they were alive and well.

Shortly after Clint turned 12, Barney's mentor Trickshot caught sight of the boy's unerring accuracy as he practiced throwing knives under Marina's careful eye. Barney had always been more of Swordsman's assistant than Trickshot's, and the marksman was very interested in teaching Clint everything he knew. Knowing that Marina was going to be a tough cookie to crack, Clint begged and pleaded and lobbied on his position as her favorite, before finally resorting to his totally unfair cobalt-grey puppy eyes. It was the last that broke down Marina's reticence and she agreed to allow him to learn archery. It was the first time Clint ever laid hand to a bow and arrows, and he quickly earned his own side show due to his perfect accuracy with both bow and throwing knives.

Kenny continued to struggle in his studies, though he excelled at both the combat training and the weapons handling Marina put to him. He was a natural at Krav Maga, and could put Marina on her back nine times in every ten. He was fast, strong and unfailingly loyal, in possession of a heart of gold unlike anyone else Marina had ever known. While her _dorogoy _was undisputedly her favorite – he was the baby of the family, after all – it was a well known fact that her _s__olnyshko_was definitely in the top two.

Will had been in the Army for eight years, and Jason had been in for five, when the unthinkable happened. Shortly after Clint turned 16, he'd caught Barney helping the Swordsman stealing money from the circus. They'd offered him the chance to come with them, but he'd refused. Though he hadn't laid a hand on Clint, neither had Barney raised a hand to help his brother. The two men had disappeared into the night, leaving Clint unconscious on the floor in the big tent. When he hadn't come to bed, Marina panicked and set the entire circus crew on the hunt for him. Kenny's favorite wolfhound found Clint within an hour, the teenager bleeding and badly broken and left to die.

The following morning, after a tense night at the local hospital emergency room as the youngest Grimm underwent surgery to repair the worst of the damage and remove his spleen, they received word that Trickshot had been found dead in his trailer. He'd been murdered, impaled with some kind of blade through the heart. Though it wasn't possible to prove it, it was accepted that the Swordsman had probably tried to recruit his partner first, and then killed him to keep him silent when the older gentleman had refused.

Marina managed to get in touch with one of Will's superior officers. After she had explained the situation, the man pulled a few strings. Almost immediately, Will and Jason were placed on the first flight from whatever Unmentionable they were stationed at the time and flown home. They joined the rest of the family at the comatose teenager's bedside within 24 hours of the incident. Clint was unconscious for a little over a week before he woke to the news about Trickshot. Devastated by the death of the archer, he refused to rejoin the circus and started talking about joining the Army like the rest of his brothers. After he was released, he pestered and begged and pleaded with Will and Marina to let him enlist.

By common consensus, no one spoke of Barney again. Barney Joshua Grimm was dead to the rest of the Brothers Grimm from the moment he left Clint to die under the Big Top.

It took about 6 months before Will and Marina finally believed that Clint was well enough to enlist, and Will signed the permission slip that allowed the teenage marksman to enlist early. Marina remained with Kenny at the circus, but Kenny knew that a good portion of her heart was far away. Will sent her progress reports frequently, joking that Clint was going to outrank the entire family before long. He hadn't even made it out of basic training, before he'd been earmarked for sniper training, officer training and Will's Spec Ops team.

It was after Clint had sent her a long letter detailing every second of his time at officer's training so far – as well as a passing mention of Will's latest promotion to Lt. Colonel – that Kenny found her standing at the window to their little railcar, letter in hand as she watched the scenery pass them by. "Marishka?"

Marina turned to face him with a smile, holding out one hand to him to accept his characteristic embrace. Kenny jogged to her side and tucked himself against her as tightly as he could, trying to gather courage from her embrace to talk to her about what was rattling around in his head. "What's up, _moy solnyshko_?" she asked with a fond smile as she laced her fingers through the fine, blond hair at his temples.

"I think you should enlist."

The pretty former spy blinked in surprise; that had been that last thing she thought he'd say. "I'm sorry?"

"I . . . I think you need to enlist. You miss them."

"Of course I miss them, _domashniy_. But they'll be back before we know it, right?"

Kenny looked up at her through his eyelashes, blue eyes sad as he watched her. "Marina . . . I know I'm not smart, but I'm not stupid either."

Marina's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned at him reproachfully. "Kenneth James! I have **never **thought you were stupid! And you know that."

"Then you know that you need to join them. You're Marina Ivanovna Petrovka, former Soviet spy and the KGB assassin they call _Gadyuka_."

"Exactly. Even if I did enlist, _moy solnyshko_, the Army would lock me up and throw away the key. And if General Ross got wind of me? It wouldn't be good for anyone."

"But you're the only one that I can trust to protect them for me."

"Kenny, I hardly think your brothers need protecting."

"Of course they do. They're the Brothers Grimm, aren't they?"

Marina chuckled as she pressed a tender kiss to his forehead. "Your brothers do require so much looking after."

Kenny giggled along with her as she squeezed him tightly. They stood there for a long moment, each consumed by their own thoughts. "You really want me to do this, Kenny? It means that I'm not going to be here with you. You'll be on your own. You sure you're ready for that?"

The younger boy thought for a long moment, before nodding firmly. "You can't hold my hand for my whole life, Marishka. You're going to have to let me go eventually."

Marina scoffed, her hand tightening around his shoulder. "Ha! That's what you think." Heaving a heavy sigh, she watched him carefully from the corner of her eyes. Each of the brothers was solid muscle and all of them had topped out at just under six feet tall. She was five foot six, with heels on, and it amused her whenever Kenny managed to tuck himself completely into her embrace as though he wasn't at least a half a foot taller than her. "All right, _domashniy_, if you're sure."

"I am."

"What are you going to do? Are you going to stay here with Babushka? You know she'd love to keep you forever."

"I know; she already offered to let me stay. But she and Dedushka are getting older. And I'm not oblivious to how hard it is to take care of me. Our next stop is in Reno, and there's a really good state home there."

Marina's eyes widened in horror at the very thought, her hands on his shoulders as she pushed him away to be able to look him in the eyes. "Kenny, are you sure!? Do you understand what that is?"

Kenny's teeth held his lower lip firmly between his teeth as he nodded emphatically. "I know what I'm doing. I need you with Will to look out for all of them. I'd join you, but I fall below the IQ requirements. I already looked into it."

"But Kenny . . . "

"You're not going to talk me out of this. I want to do this. Please, Marishka. Let me do this."

Marina watched him for a long moment, seeing the utter determination and the fierce pride that shone there. "Oh _solnyshko_, when the hell did you grow up and how didn't I notice?"

Kenny shrugged haplessly with a bright grin. "I love you, Marishka. I know you'll take care of them for me. And I know you'll all be back to visit me whenever you get leave."

"There's still the little matter about the fact that I am a KGB spy."

"So call Will. Tell him what you're planning to do. Maybe he knows something that we don't."

Marina frowned, running her hand back through her hair. "You're not to do anything until we've spoken to Misha, agreed? No running off to surrender yourself to a state home, until Misha's given us his opinion on this idea, all right?"

"All right."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Two days later, Kenny was safely installed at Nevada's Irwin State Home, and Will was at Marina's side as she walked into the Pentagon and surrendered herself to the Department of Defense. True to her prediction, the DOD locked her up in a maximum security cell inside the Pentagon until they were able to debrief her and determine her intentions. Will stayed in Washington DC the whole time she was locked up, spending half the day with her and the other appealing to his commanding officers to give the former KGB spy a chance.

A month later, Marina was sitting cross legged on the cot in her cell, reading a letter from Clint about sniper training that Will had delivered to her. She was so engrossed in Clint's hilarious retelling of the competition between him and one of his instructors, that she didn't even notice the 4 Star General she'd been debriefing with come to a stop in front of her cell, with Will to the left and behind him until she heard someone clear their throat to gain her attention. She glanced up before shooting to a standing position, bringing herself into the half-familiar parade rest that the Academy had drilled into her when she was a child. The man's eyes were blocks of green ice as he perused her silent form. "I have received no less than a half a dozen recommendations from various COs, who I'm assured know you only through association with my best A-Team, and Lt Colonel Grimm has assured me in three different languages that you are trustworthy. This being said, you in any way betray this country, and I will take great pleasure in having you publicly executed as a traitor. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." Pulling a packet of papers from the briefcase his aide-de-camp offered him, he held them up for her to see. "In light of your previous service with the KGB and your rather unique skill set, I have here a commission with the United States Army, offering you the rank of Major and a permanent assignment to Lt Colonel Grimm's A-Team, codename The Brothers Grimm. All it requires is your signature. I hope this amenable."

Marina felt her whole body wilt in relief as she risked a glance at Will's grinning face. "It is, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Just . . . be careful. Regardless of your most recent loyalties, you were still a Russian spy and there are many people in the upper ranks of the Army that would see you fail. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly, sir."

"I'm glad we understand each other." Turning to Will, he offered his subordinate officer the commission paperwork. "Get her cleaned up, suited up and I want you both back in Romania within 10 hours. You can brief her on the op your team is setting up while you're in transit. There'll be a C-130 on the tarmac when you arrive."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

The General nodded at the both, and then left the two alone. Will fumbled for a moment with the keys to her cell, before fitting the correct key into the lock and throwing open the door. The first thing Marina did was throw herself into his arms, pressing a quick, fervent kiss to his lips. Will froze for the briefest of moments, before his hands came up to lace through her hair and hold her still for the onslaught of his mouth against her own. Pulling away, he rested his forehead against her own, "If you're going to kiss me, at least kiss me like you mean it. Because I've been waiting for you to do that for nearly 8 years."

Marina giggled and looped her arms around his neck, her mouth soft and pliant against his own as she whispered against his skin, "You get me out of here, Misha, and I will show you all the different ways I mean it."

Will groaned low in his throat, pushing her body a step away. "Get your things. We have a plane to catch and you can tell me all about these different ways while we're up in the air."

Marina smirked at him, snapping off a cocky, two-fingered salute. "Yes sir, Colonel sir."

Mercurial hazel eyes narrowed as she turned away, one hand connecting sharply with her backside. The blond squeaked in surprise, even as she luxuriated in the slow burn of heat where his hand had connected with the thin material of her prison uniform. "More packing, less sassing. Come on, Major; we have a plane to catch." Grabbing her arm and hauling back before she got too far away from him, he pressed a bruising kiss to the lush curve of her lips. "And we will explore that little reaction of yours a little later, _samaya malen'kaya_," he teased, causing her insides to melt into warm, melted chocolate. "Hurry up."

TBC . . .

solnechnyy svet – sunshine (from Chapter 1: one of Marina's nicknames for Kenneth)

moy or moya – my

dorogoy – darling (Marina's nickname for Clint)

solnyshko – sun (Marina's other nickname for Kenneth)

domashniy – pet (an interchangeable nickname that Marina uses for both of the younger brothers, Kenneth and Clint)

Gadyuka – Viper (the codename Marina was assigned by the Academy & the KGB)

samaya malen'kaya – my little one (Will's nickname for Marina)


	3. The Epicness of Disaster

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

AN: Thank you all for the reviews. They really do mean a lot to me. At the bottom of the chapter, as always, are the translations for the Russian words in the chapter. Also, I was asked about how old Marina is; as a result, I have included the background paragraph I wrote for her when I created her character, as well as some information pertaining to her age in respect to the Brothers Grimm. I hope this helps! Thanks all for reading and reviewing. I hope to hear from you all again soon!

Marina Ivanovna Petrovka was born on January 31, 1942 in Leningrad, U.S.S.R. In 1945, she was inducted into the Academy Red Room Program, where she underwent all the same training as the "Black Widow." In 1965, shortly after she turned 23, she was sent to America under the name "Mary Peters," having been "appointed" as Howard Stark's assistant in Project Cahill. At the time that William Cahill, the eldest Brother Grimm, was born, she was 25 years old. Because she underwent all the same training as the Black Widow, she underwent the same physical enhancements. At the time of this chapter, she is 50; however, she still looks the same as she did at 20. William is 25; Barney is 23; Jason is 21; Kenneth is 18 and Clint is 16, though the Army believes that he's 17 because Clint lied about his age and Will backed him up on it.

Chapter 3

By the time the two officers arrived in Romania, Clint had received his assignment to the Brothers Grimm and was waiting impatiently, as was Jason, for them at the Army safe house they were using to plan their next operation. The second the two walked through the door, the dim late evening sun glinted off the gold oak leaf on the lapel of Marina's brand new Army dress greens. Clint, as irrepressible as ever, let out a loud _**whoop! **_and proceeded to smother the woman in a bear hug. "I knew they wouldn't be able to resist you, Marishka! I knew it!"

Marina laughed lightly, squeezing him tightly as he swung her around the room in ever-widening circles. "Put me down, you idiot! _Dorogoy_, I'm serious . . . I'm getting seasick."

As soon as Clint released her, Jason was there to sweep her into his own embrace. "I'm happy for you, Marishka. Welcome to the insanity."

"Thank you, _sladkiy_.

Will looked around, noticing the absence of a member of his team. "Where's Gallagher?"

Jason glanced at Marina, before answering the question, "He was handed his reassignment almost the second Clint was handed his assignment. I guess the Army thinks that they only need the Brothers Grimm on this A-Team."

Marina reached for the buttons of her coat, flipping them open as she moved toward the map on the table in the center of the room. "I've been read in on the operation. What do we have so far?"

Both Jason and Clint glanced at each other with sly, knowing looks as Will joined her at the table, his hand coming to rest unassumingly at the small of her back. The new couple exchanged a shy, telling look before Will glanced back at his younger brothers. He narrowed his eyes at their smug looks, before rolling his eyes. "Come on _svaty_; let's get this show on the road."

Clint smirked as he strode to join them, "So am I right to assume that this little chore of ours is going to be your first date?"

Marina's voice was distracted as she answered, "No, _dorogoy_. **After **this little chore of ours, is going to be our first date."

Clint and Jason high-fived over the woman's bent head, both announcing, "I totally called that!"

Will rolled his eyes with a groan, letting his brothers get their mini-celebration out of their systems. After a mirthful moment, the two settled down and got back to work. And after the success of their "little chore," as Clint called it, Marina and Will did go on their first date. It was pretty well accepted by the both of them, that there was no way it could have been any more disastrous; not after the homemade bomb Marina slapped together to give them an exit from the restaurant after a mafia hitman barged into the diner where they were eating and most definitely not after the impromptu shoot out that left half a dozen mafia men dead in the streets and Will bleeding from a through and through to the left shoulder. All in all, it was the worst first date in the history of first dates. And as was typical, Jason and Clint vowed to laugh at them about it for at least the rest of their lives.

The Brothers Grimm had been a fully functioning, if incomplete, team for about six months when the last piece of their team started to slot into place. Marina and Will were bent over the map of their next objective, mapping out how they were going to get their team in play and their sniper into position to take out their mark. Jason was fiddling with a pile of electronics, splicing together a hasty tracer that they would be using to better track their almost invisible target. The youngest Grimm was on watch, perched comfortably on the top of a filing cabinet a few feet from the door, every entrance and window into the room lying within his line of sight, his sniper rifle lying next to him as he cleaned his sidearm. There was static from their comm unit as a call came through on the apparatus. _A-Team Grimm, this is Command. Come in. Over._

Jason frowned as he lifted his head from his work, pushing the welding goggles up onto his forehead. Huffing at the interruption, he got up from his seat and wiped his hands on a greasy rag as he moved to answer the call. Everyone's eyes were on the young man as he took a seat at the unit and brought the radio to his mouth, "Command, this is A-Team Grimm. Go ahead. Over."

_Is Colonel Grimm available for a private call? Over._

Jason twisted in his chair to look at their oldest brother, watching Will's eyes narrow as he tried to piece together what little intelligence they'd been given. "Will?"

The oldest Grimm nodded and stepped to his brother's side, hand stretched out to accept the radio. "Command, this is Colonel Grimm. Over."

_Colonel, I have a Sgt Nathan Matthews on the line for you. He's an Army recruiter in Reno, NV. He said it's about your brother? Over._

Marina's eyes flashed wide as she all but lunged to Will's side. Will smiled at her, one hand coming out to stroke over the skin of her arm in reassurance. "Patch it through, Command. Over."

_Patching the call through, sir. Sgt Matthews, Colonel Grimm is on the line._

There was a brief moment of static before a gruff voice came from the radio. _Colonel Grimm, my name is Sgt Nathan Matthews. I'm calling about your brother, Kenneth Grimm, sir. Over._

"How is Kenny, Sergeant? Over."

_He seems well enough. He's expressed an interest in joining the Army, sir, and I would sincerely like to accommodate him. However, you are listed as his power of attorney for as long as he is a resident of Irwin State Home. Over._

"This is not the first time he has expressed an interest in the Army. However, I was under the impression that Kenny didn't meet the minimum IQ requirements to enlist, Sergeant. Over."

_I have tested him, Colonel, and though you're right about the IQ requirements, he has passed all of his weapons and tactical evaluations with flying colors. I'm willing to fudge the paperwork, with your permission, sir. Over._

Marina practically beamed at the information, looking almost smug as her pride in the second youngest Grimm flooded through her system. "That's my boy," she crowed as she punched Will lightly in the shoulder.

Will chuckled, relieved to see her more relaxed now that she knew Kenny was all right. "Hold for a moment, Sergeant. I just need a minute to confer with my XO. Over."

_Of course, sir. I'm in no rush. Over._

Will's lips quirked lightly as he muttered, "I'll just bet." Looking up at Marina, he passed the radio silently to Jason as he watched Marina go over all the scenarios and possibilities. "What do you think, Marishka?"

"Kenny wants to be a soldier so badly, Misha, I know that. But I'd still feel better about giving permission if I was able to talk to him face to face about it. I don't want someone attempting to manipulate him just to meet a quota."

Jason rolled his eyes as he slouched back in his chair. "You know that's what Sgt Matthews is trying to do, Marishka."

"I know that, but Kenny _**does **_want to be a soldier. We did discuss it when he convinced me to enlist with you guys. I say we hold off on giving Sgt Matthews what he wants for right now. Misha and I can hop the next transport to Nellis, pop over to Reno and find out what Kenny wants to do. If this is his own idea, and it's what he wants then I say we give him permission and we pull every single string we can to get him assigned to the Brothers Grimm. If not, well then no harm, no foul."

Will thought for a moment, before nodding his agreement. Taking back the radio, he brought it up to his lips, "Are you still there, Sgt Matthews? Over."

_I'm here, Colonel. Over._

"My XO and I are going to catch a flight to Nevada. ETA will be about 21 hours. We'll discuss this with Kenny and reevaluate at that time. I hope that won't be a problem for you. Over."

The man sounded vaguely disgruntled at being made to wait, even as he replied, _No sir. As I said, I'm in no hurry. Over._

"All right then, we'll see you in approximately 21 hours. Colonel Grimm, over and out," Will replied to the man, fighting hard to contain the mirthless smirk that wanted to come out. Handing back the radio, Will spoke quietly, "Jay, I need you to arrange a transport to Nevada. As quickly as you can."

Jason nodded once with a brisk, "Yes sir." Turning back to the comm unit, Jason brought the radio to his mouth and proceeded to call the Army airfield to request a transport.

Will turned to Clint then. "I hate to do this to you, Clint, but I need eyes on that target until we get back. Take enough provisions to last you a few days. I want you to report in to Jason at least twice a day, agreed?"

Clint nodded once, his gray eyes going cold and emotionless as he slipped effortlessly into his sniper mindset. His eyes were distant as he snapped out a brisk salute. "Yes sir. Anything else sir?"

"Be careful, Clint. That goes for you too, Jay."

Jason glanced back over his shoulder with a small smile, before returning his attention to the conversation he was having with an air traffic controller. Will turned to see Marina standing at the door, two packed duffel bags at her feet and her eyes calm as she watched him. "Ready to go, Major?"

"Whenever you are, Colonel."

Clint snickered, slipping out of sniper mode for a second. "You two have a weird idea of foreplay."

Marina's snarky reply caused Jason and Will to crow in laughter as she shot back, "You just wish you were getting foreplay, Clint. Come on, Misha; let's get this show in the air."

"Right behind you, Marishka. Boys, behave yourselves. We'll be back in a couple of days."

Both brothers nodded, crowding the doorway as they watched the two disappear into the Army Jeep parked behind their safe house. For a second, the night was still and quiet before the Jeep roared to life and Will gunned it as they rocketed to the airstrip to catch their impromptu flight. Clint glanced at Jason, before turning to grab his rifle and his gear. "I'll radio my coordinates, as soon as I've found a nest."

"Be careful, Clint. Promise?"

Clint's grin was careless as he disappeared into the night. "Hey it's me."

Jason huffed fondly; noticing belatedly that the mobile comm unit he'd modified to accommodate Clint's deafness was missing from its charger. "That's kinda why I mentioned it, you little thief."

When the couple arrived at Nevada's Irwin State Home, they found Kenny sitting in what could only be a library, bent over a workbook for the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational and Aptitude Battery) and visibly struggling with it. Marina smiled softly, stepping to his side and resting her hands on his shoulders as she reminded him, "Slow and steady wins the race, right Kenny?"

Kenny's grin was huge as he whirled at the sound of her voice. "Marina! Will! You came!"

Marina's smile was as unrestrained as his as he bolted from his chair and wrapped his arms around her tightly. She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, squeezing him tightly before releasing him to let Will get his own embrace in. Will hugged his little brother tightly, before clapping him firmly on the back and pushing him a step away. "Of course we came, little brother. You make it sound as though we wouldn't have."

The former Russian spy reached out and laced her fingers in Kenny's, guiding him to the sofa against the wall. Dropping into the cushions and pulling him down next to her, she gestured Will in the direction of the overstuffed armchair. "Kenny, we got a call from Sgt Matthews. He said he's willing to fudge the ASVAB results so that you can enlist. But Misha and I both need to hear it from you that this is truly what you want."

Kenny's head bobbed. "I want to be out there with you guys. I want to be doing something more than this."

Will reached out and drew his brother's attention. "Don't believe anything you've seen in the movies, Kenny."

Kenny frowned and opened his mouth to protest, but Will shook his head to cut off his objection. "It's not glamorous, Kenny. People don't die heroically; sometimes they linger for days before they move on. There is very little true reward and people get hurt, whether they plan to or not. I need you to really think about this, Kenny. If this is what _you _want, Marina and I will take you to your recruiter and sign all the paperwork you need to enlist. But if it's what the recruiter says you want . . . well, let's just say that you're going to be getting a lot more acquainted with this place."

Kenny sat back, eyebrows furrowed as he thought hard about what he wanted. Marina and Will glanced at each other solemnly, the corner of Marina's lips twitching into a small, reassuring smile before she turned her attention back on her second youngest charge. It was a long time, before Kenny nodded once emphatically. "I want to enlist, Will. I want to be with you and Marina and Clint and Jason. I want to do something with my life. I want to be more than a stupid kid."

"You are _not_ stupid!" Marina hissed, a deep frown contorting her face angrily. "And when I found out who convinced you that you are, I'm going to murder them. Slowly and with the kind of _porochnogo udovol'stviya _I haven't enjoyed since I still killed for the KGB."

"I'm not exactly smart, Marishka."

"Says who?! I don't know many stupid people who are trilingual, _solnyshko_. Or have you forgotten than you speak Russian and American Sign Language, in addition to English? I don't know many stupid people who know how to strip, dismantle and reconstruct any weapon placed into their keeping. Just because you're not book smart, does not mean that you are stupid. Do you hear me!? If I ever hear you say anything of the sort ever again, I swear to _Boge_ that I will turn you over my knee like I haven't since you were six and I will _zagar skryt _until you remember it. _Vy menya ponimayete _(Do you understand me)?"

Will chuckled at the dazed look on Kenny's face. "I think he got the message, _nasedka_. Pull it together before you scare the kid."

Marina scowled at her lover as she argued ferociously, "I want him _ispuganney_! I'm sick of this putting himself down _der'mo_! If you're going to be more than this place, _solnyshko_, you're going to need to be the one to believe that, not us. And if you can't, then there's really no point in trying because you will never give yourself a real opportunity."

Kenny blinked at her for a moment, blue eyes very wide as he took her words to heart. Then, very slowly as though he wasn't sure how she'd react, he leaned over and practically buried himself into her embrace. "You're like the best _sestra_ ever," he murmured quietly, as he tucked his head under her chin.

"_Chert voz'mi ya_ (Damn right I am)," she joked, feeling the tension relaxing from both of their bodies as they just enjoyed each other's closeness for a moment. Squeezing him for a brief moment longer, she pushed him away and cupped his cheek fondly, forcing him to meet her eyes. "What do you want, Kenny?"

There was no hesitation. "I want to join the Army."

Marina nodded once firmly. "All right then. Let's go get that paperwork taken care of then, huh?"

TBC. . .

Russian translations:

dorogoy – darling (Marina's nickname for Clint)

sladkiy – honey (Marina's nickname for Jason)

svaty – matchmakers

porochnogo udovol'stviya – vicious pleasure

Boge – God

zagar skryt – tan your hide

Vy menya ponimayete – Do you understand me

nasedka – mother hen

ispuganney – scared

der'mo – shit

solnyshko – sun

sestra – sister

Chert voz'mi ya – Damn right I am


	4. A Full Deck

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

AN: Thank you all for the reviews. They really do mean a lot to me. At the bottom of the chapter, as always, are the translations for the Russian words in the chapter. Also, someone asked me about Barney. He's not a primary character for awhile, but Barney will be coming back to the fold eventually. He's alive and well, but it's going to take a lot for the brothers to forgive him for what happened to Clint. I hope that helps. I continue to adore all of your reviews and comments. Thank you all for your continued interest in this story and I look forward to hearing from you about this chapter.

Chapter 4

Three months later, Clint and Marina were sitting on the couch watching Jason argue with Will about the ethicalness of the bug he'd placed on the favorite horse of their target's favorite daughter as they passed the standard Army issue popcorn (otherwise known as MRE M&Ms) between them. "We're not going to use children or the innocent to achieve our directives, Jason! Otherwise, we become no better than them!" Will scolded, hazel eyes storming through colors as his temper fluctuated.

Jason scoffed with an eye roll. "She's hardly a child; she's 23 and we've confirmed that not only is she her father's right hand man in their arms dealing, but her hands are not exactly clean either. Last count, the body count was at what again? Seven? Eight? I would hardly call her innocent, Will!"

One second, the two combatants were glaring angrily at each other; the next second, all four occupants of the room whirled, guns in hand, to face the opening door. Kenneth stood there in his Army greens, a sheepish grin on his lips and his duffle bag over his shoulder. Lifting empty hands, he joked, "Nice to see you too, _sestra_ . . . _brat'ya_. Don't shoot?"

"Kenny!" Marina's chocolate eyes widened in glee, quickly handing off her gun to Clint as she moved to throw her arms around him.

The newly arrived Kenny dropped his duffle bag with only seconds to spare as he caught her lunging body. The two were giggling together as they hugged tightly, Kenny lifting her clear off her feet and squeezing her tightly. Will stood back, watching as both Jason and Clint stepped forward to get their own hugs from their brother. Jason smiled at the younger brother, clapping him on the shoulder briefly, before Clint shoved past him for his turn. "Kenny!" Clint cheered, diving at his older brother and wrapping his arms around his waist to haul him several inches off the floor. "Dude! Why didn't you tell us you were coming!? Man . . . we almost shot you! And you know I don't miss!"

Kenny chuckled as he shook his head. "Yeah, I was trying to surprise you. See if I ever do that again." Ruffling the younger's hair, he teased, "Do you ever just slow down?"

"_Boge_, no! Tell him, Marishka!"

Marina rolled her eyes as she cracked, "Clint doesn't drink his coffee like a normal person; his is intravenously injected into his body. It doesn't wake him up any more efficiently than drinking it normally; just means that he's caffeine crazed a little faster and a little longer than everyone else."

The older brothers all laughed as Clint gave the woman a face, looking as though he were still the irrepressible five year old who had insisted on the injustice of having to take a bath while all the other kids on the circus grounds got to watch the elephants perform. Clint's hands moved sharply as he signed in agitation, a deep pout on his lips as he sulked, _You're being a meanie-butt, Marina_.

Marina wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tucking him into her side. "I know, _dorogoy_, I'm sorry. You just make it too easy to pick on you." Dodging with a laugh as he swiped at her, she danced out of his reach as she continued to tease him, "It's like there's this giant door, and you never quite shut it all the way. It makes things so much easier when I want to . . . AHH!" Yelping as he finally tackled her to the floor, she was well and truly trapped as he proceeded to tickle the life out of her. True to form, if nothing else, Jason and Will started laughing as Kenny lunged to help Clint tickle their honorary sister and longtime caretaker.

Marina lay under their combined weight, squealing with laughter and giggles as she writhed under their combined assault on her most sensitive places. Jason glanced at Will, both agreeing silently to stay out of the battle unfolding in front of them. Each of them knew that it would only be a matter of time before Marina got her body back under her own control and turned the tables on the youngest two Brothers Grimm; and there was no way either of them were looking to get into the middle of that battle. Nudging his brother lightly with an elbow, Jason waited for Will to take his eyes off Marina's still giggling form and focus on him. "You are a _schastlivchik_. You know that right?"

Will's lips curved upwards into a small grin as he nodded his head once. "Oh, Jay; you have no idea."

Right about that time, Marina managed to get a pair of well placed fingers into Kenny's weak spot, and the boy collapsed to the side in a fit of helpless giggles. Clint's eyes went wide at the loss of his partner in crime, before Marina got her leg around his hip and flipped the both of them so that he ended up on the bottom of their dog pile and was completely at her mercy. Clint was strong and a skilled grappler; but Marina had been the one to train him. It wasn't long before she had his legs pinned with her knees and his hands trapped over his head with her left hand, the fingers of her right hand buried deeply in the vulnerable hollow of his armpit. Both Jason and Will were content to let Marina get her revenge, though Jason did leap forward to rescue Clint's hearing aids when they fell out from Clint's thrashing.

"Say uncle," Marina encouraged, voice louder than normal to accommodate Clint's deafness, shifting her fingers a half an inch and causing a whole new round of breathless laughter. "Say it, or I'm not going to let you up."

"N-N-No-o-o," Clint gasped, his body bucking helplessly under her grip as he tried to free himself.

"Say it, _dorogoy_; I'm serious, I'm not going to let you up until you confess that I am the greatest in the world."

Clint thrashed furiously, throwing as much of his weight as his laughter would allow into the motion as he tried to dislodge her from her seat. Marina, however, had been trained in hand to hand combat since she was a child, and simply shifted her body along with him. Finally, he sagged back and begged, "All right! Uncle! You're the greatest _sestra_ in the world, and the best spy and the best everything, just . . . Marina . . . UNCLE!"

Instantaneously, Marina released him. "That's right, _dorogoy_. You just remember this moment, the next time you think you're going to try something like this. What's that phrase that kids use?" Looking up, she grinned at her boyfriend with a healthy amount of vindictive glee before looking back down at him. "Come on, Clint. What is it? If you don't know, I'm sure someone can help you out."

Clint glared petulantly, allowing Jason to pipe up cheerfully. "You just got served."

"_Da, chert voz'mi _(Damn right)," she crowed, before she sprang to her feet and backed away from the panting form of her youngest charge. "You okay, Clint?"

Rolling onto his elbows, Clint coughed as he fought to steady out his breathing. Glaring up at her through floppy blond fringe, Clint gasped, "I hate you."

"I know you do, _domashniy_. I love you too," she cackled loudly, letting Will loop his arm around her waist and pull her close to him.

Kenny was still lying sprawled on the floor where he'd fallen, having been reluctant to rejoin the battle. Clint flopped over onto his back once again and turned his head to face his brother, his hands flying through the ASL as he demanded, _Thanks a lot, Kenny. Bailing at the first sign of trouble? What kind of brother are you, anyway?_

_The kind that firmly believes in 'every man for himself' __when it comes to Marina and tickling_, the slightly older brother announced with a bright grin as he replied in kind.

Jason chuckled at the two of them, coming over to offer both a hand and haul them up off the floor. Clint allowed it for as long as it took before he was back on his feet, before shoving Jason away with a rough push to his shoulder. _And where the hell were you?_ Clint demanded furiously, his hands flying emphatically through the phrase as he let his anger at being bested get the better of him.

_Safely out of the way_, Jason teased, knowing better than to take Clint's blustering personally. _Some of us are smart enough not to take on Marishka in a tickle war. We always lose, Clint; we always have, we always will._

_One day, I will preserve._

_And I will gladly join the battle at your side when that day comes. But today was not that day and tomorrow is not looking very promising either_, Jason joked, offering his little brother his open palm and the hearing aids that sat there.

Clint glowered and snatched his hearing aids back, his movements deft as he reasserted the apparatuses into his ears. Pouting as though he was still five years old, Clint turned on his heel and sulked away. Marina moved over to Kenny's side and hugged him. "Welcome to the Insanity that is the Brothers Grimm, Kenny. We may not be the sanest people around, but we sure have a lot of fun."

Kenny shrugged, "Sometimes just a little crazy can be more productive than all the sanity in the world."

Recognizing the phrase as one of her favorites, she joked, "Now where on earth did you hear something like that?"

"Eh," he grunted with a haphazard shrug, "I knew this girl once. She was always spouting off wild things like that."

"She sounds pretty awesome," Will teased, hauling Marina to him and nibbling lightly on the curve of her jaw.

Kenny's head ducked as he blushed, "Yeah . . . she really is."

Marina grinned at him, reaching out to cup Kenny's jaw fondly. "Thank you, _solnyshko_. Go talk to Clint for me, huh? You're his best friend; he'll listen to you."

Nodding, the young man turned and headed off in the direction that Clint had stormed when he'd left the main room of the safe house. Jason wisely disappeared down a hallway, leaving the couple alone in the living room. Will nuzzled further into the soft skin of Marina's throat, murmuring against the skin there, "You are pretty amazing. Kenny's right about that, _samaya malen'kaya_. There's no one else in the world quite like you."

Marina turned to face him, her arms coming up to drape lazily over his shoulders. "The world couldn't handle more than one of me at a time, Misha. It would probably implode first."

Caught off guard, Will snorted. "Amen to that."

TBC

Russian translations

Sestra – sister

Brat'ya – brothers (the plural, not singular)

Schastlivchik – lucky bastard

Dorogoy – darling (Marina's nickname for Clint)

Da chert voz'mi – Damn right

Domashniy – pet (an interchangeable nickname Marina uses for Clint & Kenny)

Solnyshko – sun (Marina's nickname for Kenny)


	5. Satan's Shithouse

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

AN: Thank you all for the reviews. They really do mean a lot to me. At the bottom of the chapter, as always, are the translations for the Russian words in the chapter. I hope to see more of your reviews; I do love to read them. If you'd like to see the banner I made for this story, please PM me. I'll be happy to email it to you.

Chapter 5

_Two Years Later:  
__December 24, 1995  
__Croatia  
__NATO Operation IFOR_

"_Boge_, I hate Yugoslavia," came the bitter grunt over the comms.

Marina's chuckle was grim as she replied, her eyes glued to her own scope. "It's not Yugoslavia anymore, _Yastreb_. It's Croatia now."

"I don't care what the hell it is, _Sova_, it's hotter than hell and even more boring than watching chickens scratch dirt."

Marina's voice was amused as she replied, "I believe my former mentor at the Academy used to call it Satan's shithouse."

Chocolate eyes glanced toward the roof of the building angled to her left. She couldn't see anything, but she knew their A-Team's sniper was there; well hidden in his nest and keeping a careful eye on the evacuations NATO was assisting with in the tiny village they'd been called into. Another voice broke into the comms, Will's voice gruff and angry, "_Sova . . . Yastreb_ . . . what part of radio silence do you not understand?"

Clint's growl came through the comm audibly, but both Marina and Will ignored it. He'd been forced to take his hearing aids out, so that he could use the comm he'd been issued – base tech nearly losing its mind at the very idea that Jason had both designed and then created an unsanctioned mobile comm unit he could use with them – and he likely didn't realize how loud the sound had been. "_Orel_, please tell me that I'm gonna get to shoot something. If you promise that I get to shoot something, I swear I'll shut my mouth and maintain radio silence."

Their tech specialist spoke up then, "_Brat'ya Mrachnyy_, this is _Krechet_. Keep your eyes peeled on the south by southeast entrance to the village. We have a reported incoming. Presumed to be hostile. Do not engage unless engaged upon."

"_Slava Bogu_!" Clint breathed as he quickly gathered his gear and shifted his nest to track the incoming hostiles.

Marina turned her attention back down on the evacuations taking place below her. "_Orel_, the humanitarian aid workers still have maybe another 50 people to move out. What is Command advising us to do?"

"Continue with the evac, and get as many out as you can, as quickly as you can. But, unless we are engaged, we do not engage, _Sova_."

"That's a crap order, _Orel_," Clint reminded their superior officer.

Will's sigh was heavy and knowing as he spoke, "Agreed, but it's the one we've been given. _Krechet_, do you have an ETA on that incoming?"

"ETA in five, _Orel_."

Marina could tell he'd switched to the general channel, when he spoke again. "All right people, let's speed up the evacuations. We have hostiles coming in, and I will not risk the safety of my team for a handful of civilians who should have evacuated weeks ago."

Clint spoke up then, "I have a visual on our incoming, guys, and they're packing some serious heat. I don't know why they're coming here, but they mean business."

Will's voice was concerned but steady as he transferred their comms back to their own private line. "_Sokol_, you in position?"

Kenny's voice was a welcome calm as he hummed an incommunicative affirmative. "_Krechet_,try to hail our guests. Let's see what they're doing here, huh?"

"Yes sir," was Jason's monotone reply before he started scrambling signals to try and get a lock on the convoy's channel. "Incoming convoy, this is A-Team Mark Tango 2. Please state your destination and primary objective."

There was a long pause, before the cannon mount swung toward the village and Clint suddenly swore as he caught a glimpse of the insignia displayed on the front of the mount, "_Der'mo_! Will! They're Serbian insurgents!"

Will's voice was strained as he replied as calmly as he could, "_Yastreb_, tag incoming. _Krechet_, kindly inform them that they are about to fire on United States military personnel. Inform them that should they chose to engage us, we are prepared to fire back."

Jay's voice was an insistent hum in the background as Clint lowered his eye to his sight and prepared to take the shot that would "paint" the target. His body was utterly motionless, even as the sniper rifle bucked in his grip. It was hard, but Marina just barely managed to keep her scope trained on the silver transmitter that flew straight at the incoming convoy's lead tank. It lodged in the only weak spot available in the tank's armored plating and bobbed harmlessly, a red light at its tip coming on to indicate the success of its lock on. "Incoming tagged."

Marina glanced at the reader resting on the lip to her left and nodded once, "Signal's coming in strong, _Orel_."

There was a brief pause as they waited for any kind of response from the convoy's communications officer. Moments later they received their answer; Marina screamed as she ducked her head to avoid the fired rocket. It flew over her head and landed in the building structure behind her. Wrapping her arms around her head to protect herself from falling debris, she gasped as a heavy piece of cinderblock landed heavily on her left leg. "_Sova_!" came the unified cry from all four of the brothers, each demanding a status report.

"_Sych_! Are you all right!?" Will demanded, his voice hinting at the sheer level of panic that was threatening to choke him completely.

"I'm fine!" she insisted, before adding on a virulent string of oaths as an afterthought. "I'm all right. I caught some debris to the back of the leg, but for the most part, the worst of it missed me entirely."

Clint's voice was dry as he asked, "So can we safely assume that this means we've been engaged upon?"

There was a relieved pause before Will called it. "Blow 'em to hell, _Sokol_."

"Yes, sir," came the expected reply, before there was a low **boom! **as the M198 cannon set up on the street below literally shook the building below Marina's sprawled form.

The lead tank was instantaneously engulfed in flames, halting the tank and causing a crash as the one directly at its bumper crashed into it. Another **boom!** reverberated through the building below her as Kenny sent off another volley. The rest of the convoy screeched to a halt and reversed back the way they came, barely managing to avoid the next volley of cannon fire as Kenny prepped for another strike. Will's voice was soft and satisfied as he spoke into his mic, "_Sokol . . . Krechet_ . . . I want to know who they are and what they're doing here. _Yastreb_, provide cover. _Sova_, where are you?"

Marina was already on her way down the stairwell, limping significantly but still moving under her own power. "I'm on my way to rendezvous with _Sokol _and _Krechet_."

"Negative. Stay put. Medical is on its way to your location."

The brunette rolled her eyes with a huff, continuing on her way. "I'm sorry, _Orel_, I didn't catch that. You're cutting out. I think my comm unit is fitzing out. I'll see you back on base. _Sova_, over and out."

The last thing she heard was Will's angry call of her name as she removed the comm unit from her ear and stepped from the building. Both Jason and Kenny were standing outside the building, obviously waiting for her. Jason cocked an eyebrow at her, "You know he's going to have your ass, right?"

"Just because I'm a woman and his girlfriend, does not mean that I can't still kick his ass. And I will do it too, unless he remembers who exactly it is he's talking to."

Kenny's face was eloquent with disapproval as he watched her. "Marishka, he's just worried about you. I mean, we don't have the best luck with people who actually care about us."

The twinge of guilt in her chest nearly derailed her plans, but she pushed it down and away. "Are we gonna keep standing here, flapping our jaws? Cause I was pretty sure we had a job that needs getting done."

The two brothers glanced at each other, before Jason just shrugged. "Can I just have this go on record as a bad idea? And if he comes after us for letting you tag along, I just want it clarified that I tried to talk you out of this. Deal?"

"Deal," the woman agreed, hefting her gun and forcing herself to ignore the pain in her leg. "Come on. We have work to do."

Neither of the brothers protested any further, just lifting their own guns and following her to where the two disabled tanks continued to burn and smoke. Clint's voice was a low hum in her discarded comm unit, obviously calling out observations to both Kenny and Jason. The three approached the scene cautiously, rifles up and at the ready, none of them willing to take any chances. There was a body lying in the dirt and Marina approached it carefully. Reaching out for the corpse's shoulders, she moved the body onto its back. At the sight of the face, her eyes flew wide and she lunged backward. Kenny was at her side in a second as she fumbled for her earpiece. Shoving it into her ear, she spoke up, "_Orel_, this is _Sova_. We have a serious problem."

Will's silence was telling and the hair on the back of Marina's neck began to stand up for more than one reason. "Oh really, and what problem might that be?"

"These aren't Serbian insurgents . . . they're Red Room operatives." Looking over at the wide eyes of the dead woman lying on the ground, she spoke again, "They were here for me."

TBC

Russian Translations:

Yastreb – Hawk (Clint's Army Spec Op code name)

Sova – Owl (Marina's Army Spec Op code name)

Orel – Eagle (Will's Army Spec Op code name)

Brat'ya Mrachnyy – Brothers Grimm

Krechet – Merlin (Jason's Army Spec Op code name. BTW, a merlin is a kind of hawk, so his code name does still go along with the rest of the others)

Slava Bogu! – Thank God!

Sokol – Falcon (Kenny's Army Spec Op code name)

Der'mo – shit

Sych – Little Owl (Will's secondary, and more affection code name for Marina)


	6. The Plot Thickens

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

AN: Thank you all for the reviews. They really do mean a lot to me. At the bottom of the chapter, as always, are the translations for the Russian words in the chapter. I hope to see more of your reviews; I do love to read them. Please guys . . . please review.

Chapter 6

Clint joined the three at the site within minutes. Kenny had an arm around Marina's waist, while Jason was scrounging through the pockets of the dead women in and around the tank. Marina was as pale as paper, chocolate eyes wide as she continued to stare at the dead body of the blond woman at her feet. "Marishka!? You okay?" Clint demanded, reaching out to grip her shoulder.

Marina shook herself free from whatever thoughts were streaming through her mind. Seeing the barely concealed panic in the grey eyes of their usually unflappable sniper, she shook herself from her thoughts and reached up to squeeze the hand that rested on her shoulder. "I'm all right, _dorogoy_. Just a little shaken."

Jason stood with a pile of passports in his hands. He shuffled through them, rubbing his thumb over the State Insignia of the Russian Federation which was emblazoned across the front of each. "Well, they're definitely Russian all right. What do you want us to do, _Orel_?"

"How is the evacuation coming along, Lt. Banks? Over."

"Evacuation complete, Colonel. We're on our way to the refugee camp now. Over."

"Glad to hear it, Lieutenant. We'll see you back in the camp soon. _Krechet_, you and _Sova_ head back to base. _Sova_, please report immediately to Medical to get your leg checked out. _Krechet_, I want to know everything you can find out about each of these women and I want the files in my hand within the week. _Yastreb_, I'm sending a clean up crew to mop up the bodies. _Sokol_, there's a team coming to hitch the M198 to the Humvee. All of you, be safe, and I'll see you back on base shortly."

All four glanced at each other warily, hearing the angry undertone in his voice, before Jason replied, "Yes sir. _Brat'ya Mrachnyy_, over and out."

"Command, over and out," came the curt reply, before there was an audible click that indicated Will had left the conversation permanently.

Jason huffed lightly, "So . . . Will's pissed."

Clint glanced askance at a devastated Marina, squeezing her shoulder as he tried to ease the tension. "He spends his life wrangling us. Of course he's pissed."

"The question is, at whom? The Red Room assassins who randomly crash landed into a top secret operation? Or me, for disobeying orders and making an already difficult mission even more difficult?" Marina whispered quietly.

Kenny hugged her tightly, tucking her tightly between him and Clint as they closed ranks around her. "First of all, you are not to blame for this. Second of all, Will can't stay mad at you, Marishka. He's gonna bluster a bit, but he won't be mad."

"'Bluster a bit'?" Clint teased with a grin. "Sure you don't want to join the rest of us in the 20th Century, Ken?"

"Shut up, Clint," Kenny laughed, taking a playful swipe at his head. "At least I don't have to baby-sit the dead, blown up bodies."

Clint's glee deflated and he slumped scowling. "You blew them up . . . why don't you have to baby-sit them? Thanks for that, Kenny."

"No problem, little brother. Happy to be of assistance," the second youngest Grimm teased, reaching out to ruffle the other's hair fondly.

The youngest of the Brothers Grimm grunted, the two brothers rough housing for a moment before Jason's quiet question brought them both to a standstill. "How did you know she was a Red Room operative, Marina?"

Marina visibly shuddered at the question, glancing quickly at the corpse lying mere feet away. "Her name is Nastia Ilianovna Dmitriyeva. We were in the same year at the Academy. If you'd asked me before this, I would have said that we were maybe friends."

Jason snorted lightly, but it was Clint who said what was floating around through all of the brothers' minds. "Wow . . . some friend."

The brunette shook her head, sinking slowly to the floor. "To be honest, I'm not surprised. I haven't seen any of those women since **before **Will was born."

"Really?"

"I was 23 when I took the assignment to be Howard Stark's assistant on the Project Cahill. And when Stark laid Will in my arms for the first time, I made my choice. I disobeyed my directives; I misled the KGB; I misinformed them about everything that came out of the Project. And when Kenny was six, and Ross was going to have him terminated, I did what I did to protect you all. I stole every shred of medical information the Project had on you, and I destroyed everything else. When I took you and hid you, I effectively defected from the KGB and the Academy. To those women who had once been my friends, I was now a traitor. I had betrayed my country, my people, my handlers, my directives. And if there's one thing the Red Room beat into each and every one of us, it's that friendship is nothing when weighed against loyalty to _Materi Rossii_."

"So the women who were your friends, are now your enemies?" Jason asked, flipping effortlessly through the passports.

Marina's arms came around herself as though she was trying to hold her emotions inside of herself and keep herself in one piece. "So it would seem."

Freezing at the sound of engines, Clint looked around to see who was incoming. Seeing the incoming NATO Humvees, he waved a hand over his head to redirect them. "Jay . . . I would hide those passports if I was you."

"Done and done," Jason agreed as he tucked them into one of his fatigue pockets.

Both Clint and Kenny crouched down beside Marina, Clint reaching to tug up her pant leg to see her injury. "How you feeling, _Sova_? You feeling it yet?"

There was only a small nod, the woman's whole body just deflating as the adrenaline began to drain from her body. The three brothers exchanged worried looks, before Jason crouched in front of Marina and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Marishka . . . you still with us? Marina!?"

There was no response as chocolate eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped toward the floor. Kenny and Jason caught her easily, as Clint stood and ran to get a medic from the incoming convoy. It seemed like forever before the medics arrived and loaded Marina up for the trip back to base. It was only as the Humvee with Marina inside was speeding away that Clint spoke up, "Who wants to be the one to tell Will?"

"Not it!" came the simultaneous calls from all three brothers.

TBC

Russian Translations:

Sova – Owl (Marina's Army Spec Op Codename)

Orel – Eagle (Will's Army Spec Op Codename)

Krechet – Merlin (Jason's Army Spec Op Codename)

Yastreb – Hawk (Clint's Army Spec Op Codename)

Sokol – Falcon (Kenny's Army Spec Op Codename)

Brat'ya Mrachnyy – Brothers Grimm

Materi Rossii – Mother Russia


	7. Stop Running, Start Fighting

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

The Russian Translations in this chapter are in the parentheses within the chapter. I do apologize for how long it took to get this new chapter up. However, I don't get any reviews here on this site. I do, however, get reviews on the other site I have this posted on, so I have been focusing my efforts onto that site.

Either way, I hope you all enjoy! Please please please review! It really does encourage me to continue posting to this story.

Chapter 7: Stop Running, Start Fighting

When Marina floated from the depths of unconsciousness, she knew at once that she had not truly woken. It should have been illogical to automatically assume that she was dreaming, even more so as she had not yet opened her eyes. But she knew; she knew that were she to open her eyes, she would see a long destroyed home, still beloved and unchanged from her fondest memories. It was the scent in the air that alerted her to the dream, her father's prized Siberian Irises. Their distinctive perfume had been absent from her life since her papa was killed when she was 4 years old. The Academy had come for her and they had taken her . . . silencing her father's protests permanently.

Kind, familiar fingers brushed tenderly over her cheek. She moaned through a sob, eyes firmly closed as she turned into the half-forgotten caress. The sound of her father's laughter broke her heart as he teased her fondly. "_Eto vremya, chtoby prosnut'sya, dorogaya devochka_. (It's time to wake up, darling girl.)"

"_Net Papy. Pozvol'te mne spat' vtoraye bol'she, _(No Daddy. Let me sleep a second more,)" she begged unwilling to give up these few moments she had with him, dream or not.

"_No eto prekrasnyy den', milaya devushka. A vashi mal'chiki budut volnovat'sya._ (But it is a beautiful day, dear girl. And your boys will be worried.)"

Startled that he knew about "her boys," Marina's eyes flew open, her hands pushing her body upwards into a sitting position. Ivan Antonovich Petrov smiled down at her, eyes as dark as she remembered and as wise. "_Krasnaya Komnata izmenila menya, Papy. Ya ne vasha dorogaya devochka._ (The Red Room changed me, Daddy. I am not your darling girl anymore.)"

Ivan's hands were steady as he cupped her cheeks and solemnly looked her in the eyes. "_Vy vsegda budete moya dorogaya devochka, Marishka. _(You will always be my darling girl, little Marina.)"

Ducking herself into his arms, she shook her head firmly to negate his words. "_Ya sdelal slishkom mnogo, Papa. U menya krov mnogikh synovey na moikh rukakh. Kak ya mogu byt' proshcheny za to, chto ya sdelal v imya Rossii?_ (I have done too much, Papa. I have the blood of many sons on my hands. How can I ever be forgiven for what I have done in Russia's name?"

"_Vy dolzhny prostit' sebya. A vashi mal'chiki lyubyat vas. Doveryat'im. Oni budut zashchishchat' vas, kak vy vsegda zashchishchal ikh._ (You must forgive yourself. Your boys love you. Trust them. They will protect you, as you have always protected them.)"

Marina felt a warm hand take her own then and knew she could stay no longer. She knew that hand; every callus, every ridge . . . its touch written indelibly onto her very soul. The sensation was vague and far away, but it drew her inexorably, pulling her lovingly from her dream. "_Samaya malen'kaya_," whispered the beloved voice, familiar and welcoming . . . one she would always follow, no matter where it led her.

"Misha . . . " she murmured, torn between returning to the man she loved and staying with her father. She yearned for Will with every fiber of her soul, but could not make herself surrender her dream easily.

Other voices joined the first; each one soft, broken and frightened. "Marishka, come back to us. Where you are, please . . . come back."

"Clint . . . Kenny . . . Jason," she whispered, naming each voice as each of the brothers pleaded with her to return to them.

Her father's fingers were fading in their caress as he released her at last. "_K ikh docheri. Ya lyublyu vas, no vashe mesto teper' mini. Pust' proshloye lozh'. Ona ne derzhit no tebya. _(Go to them, daughter. I love you, but your place is with them now. Let the past lie. It has no hold on you anymore.)"

"_Ya lyublyu tebya, Papy._ (I love you, Daddy.)"

"_I ya lyublyu tebya, moy dorogaya lyubimaya devushka. Bud'te schastlivy I lyubite khorosho. _(And I love you, my dearest darling girl. Be happy and love well.)"

Marina came to slowly and with a soft sigh, knowing now that she was truly awake. There was a machine at the head of her bed, beeping quietly in time with her heartbeat. Her eyes blinked open lazily, awake of only the comforting weight of a familiar hand holding her own. Will sat her bedside, her hand held firmly between both of him. He lifted their hands and pressed a firm kiss to her knuckles, his tri-colored eyes locked firmly on her own. He smiled at her gently, murmuring, "Hi."

Squeezing his hand in tender reply, she whispered fondly, "Hi."

He stood and bent to kiss her forehead lovingly, fingers of one hand brushing a strand of her hair off her face. "_Bozhe moy, samaya malen'kaya_. _Nikogda ne delat', chto mne snova_. (Oh my God, little one. Don't ever do that to me again.)"

Narrowing her eyes at him, she took a moment to really look at him. His fatigues were rumpled and unkempt as though he had spent a considerable amount of time sleeping in them. There was a distinct five o'clock shadow covering his jaw line and dark bags were etched deeply under his eyes. His hair was longer than she'd seen it since he'd enlisted and he had obviously been running his hands through it constantly, whether out of worry or frustration, she wasn't sure.

In short, Lt. Colonel William Michael Grimm looked terrible . . . and he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Her lips curved into a fond smile, one hand coming up to cup his cheek. Tracing her fingers over his features, she whispered, "_Ya lyublyu tebya. _(I love you.)"

Will nearly choked on a sob as he reached up to trap her hand to his face. _"Boge, ya lyublyu tebya. _(God, I love you.)"

Marina hummed, parting her lips for his kiss the both of them simply taking comfort in each other for a moment. "I make no promises, Misha."

"Can you at least promise to do as you're told next time I tell you to wait for Medical?"

The brunette only grinned tiredly, before glancing around. "Where're the boys?"

"Sleeping off the last few days. You've been unconscious for almost three days, Marishka."

"What happened?"

"When you got hit by the debris from the building, it caused a pretty massive contusion across the entire back of your leg. The bruise put pressure on the blood vessels in your leg, slowing the flow of blood to your muscles. The doctors called it 'compartment syndrome' or something. It was all a lot of jargon that went over my head. Clint said you got dizzy; you had to sit down. Finally, you passed out and Medical brought you back here. The doctors were a little worried they wouldn't be able to save your leg," Will explained, with a wry smile and an arched eyebrow. Recognizing the silent admonishment for what it was, Marina at least had the good grace to look abashed. "Try not to hurt yourself for awhile. The doctors put you on Coumadin® to try and combat the bruising."

"Anything else, Colonel?" she breathed tiredly, feeling her whole body begin to shut down even as she snarked at him.

Will smiled, watching her yawn. "Nothing that can't wait, Major. Get some more sleep. The boys will be here by the time you wake up again, and you're going to need all the energy you can get for them."

Marina chuckled, unable to deny that claim. The Brothers Grimm were unfailingly energetic on a good day, and down right spastic – at least in Clint's case – on any other. "Okay. Love you, Misha."

"Love you too, _samaya malen'kaya_."

Tugging on his hand briefly, Marina tried to coax him into bed with her. Will resisted for all of a moment, before he toed off his combat boots and shucked his over shirt, leaving him in only his khaki t-shirt and fatigue pants as he slid into bed beside her. It was as they laid there – her head on his chest and his fingers in her hair – that she spoke again. "I dreamt about my father."

Will's fingers froze for a second as he processed that, before resuming their caress as though they'd never stopped. "Oh?"

She hummed a wordless affirmative, burrowing closer to him. "He said he loved me."

Her boyfriend stiffened below her at the words, struggling to understand why that had been important to her. After a breathless moment, he got it. His hands pulled her closer to him, his lips fond against her skin as he murmured, "Oh Marishka . . . of course he does."

Marina shook her head to negate the forgiveness lying in wait within his voice. "I'm not a good person, Misha. I've killed, and lied, and stolen, and cheated."

"That's true, but you also gave five kids a chance at a real life. One they never would have gotten from any of the rest of their caretakers. I'm sure that that, at the very least, makes up for whatever sins you're still carrying around with you. Sleep, Marishka. I'll be right here when you wake up."

"You won't leave?" she asked, voice quiet and plaintive and nothing like the Marina he'd spent so many years falling hard for.

"Not now . . . not ever," came the quiet vow, the firm promise all the release Marina needed to fall asleep once more.

It was a promise he intended to keep. Come hell or high water.

When Marina woke again, it was a slower and more obscure experience, allowing her to take in her surroundings one sensation at a time. Will's body was still strong and solid in the bed beside her, but another hand, this one callused and firm, held one hand in their own. _Clint._ She knew this hand too, a small smile twitching across her lips as she tuned into the conversation happening around her. "How is she, Will?" came another well-beloved voice. _Kenny_.

Will's answer was delayed for a moment, letting her know that he knew she was awake. He was allowing her the opportunity to take stock of her own body and make her own report. Shifting, she answered Kenny's question, "I'm all right, Kenny."

It took a moment, before the two youngest brothers realized that the answer had come from Marina and not Will. "Marishka!" they cheered, both moving to crowd the bed.

Kenny reached out to take the hand opposite of the one that Clint still held, giving Marina the opportunity to squeeze both of their hands firmly. A small grin curved her lips as Will slipped from the bed and reached for the bed controls. Glaring at him fondly, she nevertheless permitted Will to elevate the head of the bed. "Hello _dorogoy_ . . . _ solnyshko_."

The blue eyes of her second youngest charge were wide and frightened as he watched her for any sign of a lie. "You're sure you're okay, Marishka?"

"I'm sure, Kenny. My leg hurts, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

The brunette jumped in surprise when Jason's voice sounded from the doorway, "It's good to see you awake, Marishka." The second oldest remaining Brother Grimm stood just inside the doorjamb, a stack of file folders in his arms.

"It's good to be awake, _sladkiy._ You look like you have news for us."

Jason nodded solemnly and held up the file folders. "I have dossiers on each of our dead Red Room operatives. I was kinda hoping that you wouldn't be awake yet."

The former spy smiled sadly, knowing why he'd said that. "It's all right, Jay. I think it's about time that I told you all what I remember of the Red Room, and everyone I grew up with within the Academy. If they're sending operatives after me, they're going to continue sending more until I am dead. You all have trusted me all these years to protect you. I think it's time that I start to trust you all to protect me too."

Will's smile was small as he reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "It's about time, _samaya malen'kaya_."

Marina took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. "I'm done running, Misha. It's about time that I start facing what I've tried so hard to escape."


	8. Valya and the Proposal

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

The Russian in this chapter is in italics, with the translations both in the chapter itself and at the end of the chapter. I do apologize for how long it took to get this new chapter up, Real Life ATE ME! *gasps for air*

Either way, I hope you all enjoy! Please please please review! It really does encourage me to continue posting to this story.

Chapter 8: Valya and the Proposal

It took some finagling but eventually Marina had been installed in a hospital conference room, her boys sprawled around the table. Jason watched her carefully, the files still firmly in his custody. "Are you sure, Marishka? You don't have to do this," he insisted, not surprised when she shook her head stubbornly.

"I need to do this, _sladkiy_. The past will have no hold over me anymore."

Jason's eyes flicked toward Will for a moment, deferring to the eldest brother almost as an afterthought. Marina may be the oldest seated at the table, but she'd handed over her role as _de facto_ leader to Will long ago; except for Marina, none of The Brothers Grimm would dare flout a direct order. Heaving a heavy sigh at the elder brother's solemn nod, he reached out to hand her the files. He watched her carefully as she reached slowly to take them, and knew that despite her determination to see it through, she was not looking forward to sorting through the files of dead operatives that she at least still counted as friends. Flipping open a notebook in front of him, Jason prepared to keep meticulous notes on each of the names she read. He knew Marina, and knew that she would want to do something to commemorate each fallen former comrade once they'd returned stateside. Nevermind the fact that they'd come to Croatia to kill her.

Each name passed her lips in a reverent whisper as she paged through the files, her face paling further with each face she flipped past. "Nastia Ilianovna Dmitriyeva. Florentina Germanovna Gurkovskaya. Rozalina Abramovna Yeltsina. Zoya Konstantinovna Yanayeva. Katya Vasiliyevna Azarova."

Finally, her whole demeanor broke and her face crumbled into real, heartbreaking grief as she found a name that she not only knew, but called beloved. "_O Bozhe, net. Ne Valya._ (Oh God, no. Not Valya.)"

Jason scribbled the name in the notebook open in front of him, making sure to place a large star beside the name so that he would know that this name was special. Will's voice was gentle as he spoke, "_Valya? Kto Valya, samaya malen'kaya?_ (Who is Valya, my little one?)"

Marina bowed her head over the file, fingers tender and loving over the picture of a stone faced blond with steel cold grey eyes. "Valentina Sergeyevna Obolenskaya. We were born in same village in _Sibir'_, in _Кемерово_. Our mothers were friends. After my mother died, her mother used to watch me while my papa was away. She was my best friend; no matter what the _Gospozha_ did to try to make us betray one another, we remained loyal to each other. I can't . . . why would she . . . I don't understand."

Seeing her start to crumble, Will stood from his chair and moved to crouch beside her. "_Marishka, eto ne vasha vina. Vy zhe sami skazali, vy predali Rossiyu, kogda ty ukral nas v storonu, chtoby zashchititʹ nas. Ty predatelʹ ikh seychas. Valya sdelala svoy vybor, yestʹ ne chto inoye, vy mogli by sdelatʹ._ (Marishka, this is not your fault. You said yourself, you betrayed Russia when you took us away to protect us. You're a traitor to them now. Valya made her choice; there is nothing else you could have done.)"

"_No, Misha, ona mertva. Potomu chto ona byla poslana, chtoby ubitʹ menya, i my ubili yeye v pervuyu ocheredʹ. Kak eto ne moya vina?_ (But, Misha, she's dead. Because she was sent to kill me and we killed her first. How is that not my fault?)"

Will pressed his lips to her forehead, murmuring against her skin. "_Ona sdelala svoy vybor. Vy sdelali vash. Tolʹko odin vinovat v lyubom iz eto Akademiya._ (She made her choice. You made yours. The only one to blame for any of it is The Academy.)"

The couple sat there for a long moment, with the other three boys looking on before Will finally moved back. "Marishka . . . _samaya malen'kaya_ . . . tell us about the Red Room."

Marina looked up at him with red rimmed brown eyes, before taking a deep breath and making a conscious effort to straighten her spine and regain composure before nodding her agreement. "I was born January 31, 1941, in _Кемерово, Sibir', Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Republik_ (Kemerovo, Siberia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). My mother died with I was only a year old and I don't really remember her very well. My _Papy_ was a soldier for _Materi Rossii_, and he had been a part of the Revolution that overthrew the _Tsar_. I was four when my father received notification that I had been selected, based on his loyal service, to become a part of an elite corps of children and that they would be coming for me. My father protested; I was all he had left, and he would not give me up so easily. The _Akademiya_ came for me in June; my father tried to fight and they put him down like a _sobaka_. I remember screaming as I watched them kill him, fighting with the woman who was holding onto me and trying to get to him. I didn't get the chance to say goodbye; I didn't get the chance to do anything except watch as my father's body fell to the floor of our little home and the soldiers set it ablaze."

Here she took a breath, looking up to see the looks of horror on the faces of her boys. She reached out and squeezed Kenny's hand, seeing that the gentlest of them all was nearly in tears. "It wasn't so bad. Valya was taken with me. And life in _Sibir'_ was hard, even for those who were in the good graces of _Materi Rossii i yeye Suprugi_. The _Akademiya_ offered three full meals a day, and we were never cold or ill-clothed. It was hard and the _Gospozha_ was cruel, but all of us girls had each other. _Gospozha_ tried so hard to break us of our humanity, turn us into remorseless automatons, who served only _Rossiya_ and cared little for morals or ethics. Some of us capitulated; others only grew stronger for being able to retain that small part of ourselves.

"I still remember the day I took my first kill, and was given my codename. _Gadyuka._ The Viper. He was an upper level diplomat; they had evidence he was collaborating with the _SSHA_ (USA). It was the height of the _Kholodnaya Voyna_ and that was treason of the worst kind in the _SSSR_. I seduced him and then killed him while he lay sleeping in the bed beside me; I was 15 and he was probably 50. He was the first of the men whom I have killed, but he was not the last."

Clint leaned forward, eyebrows furrowed. "How many girls were there?"

Marina shrugged lightly. "I don't know, not truly. They called it 'The _Akademiya_' only because they passed it off as a boarding school for special, talented girls. There was always a new class coming in and another class going out. I was there officially as a singer, 'training' to be a classical singer for the Soviet Opera. I actually sang in Prokofiev's _Maddalena_ in 1955. I was 14 and the papers who reviewed the opera said that I had a voice like a Botticelli angel."

"How many were in your class?"

Marina was quiet for a moment as she thought, before answering in a tired whisper, "There were eighteen of us who made it through to graduation."

"Made it through?"

"Those of us who couldn't," there was a pause as Marina stumbled over her thought, asking, "How do you say it, Clint? When someone can't succeed at something?"

Clint swallowed, "Hack it. They couldn't hack it."

"Those of us who couldn't 'hack it' disappeared, and we never saw them again. There were a couple girls who slit their own wrists. We started out with around 45 of us, and eighteen of us graduated."

"_Yebat'_," Jason swore softly, his eyes dropping closed as he considered what she was saying.

"And these women? The ones who died today?"

"They were all in my class. They were my friends, and I never would have wished them dead."

Will took a deep breath, laying a hand over her hand. "Marishka . . . I need to know . . . who else was in your class?"

Marina cocked her head at him for a moment, trying to understand the source of that question, before her eyes widened and she choked. "No, Misha."

"_Samaya malen'kaya_, if they come for you again, I want to know who it is we're going to kill. Tell us; who else was in your class?"

The brunette bit down on her lip, looking between the four men at the table and seeing the cold determination in each of their eyes. "Promise me, Misha. No matter what happens, you'll offer them a better chance. And if you can't, or they won't, it'll be a clean kill."

Each of them nodded immediately, though Will was the only one to speak, "We promise."

Sucking in a stabilizing breath through her nose, Marina bowed her head and began to list names. "Galina Igorovna Yuryeva. Yelena Mikhailovna Yolkova. Yekaterina Maximovna Baryshnikova. Inga Romanovna Sidorova. Klara Nikolayevna Varuskina. Mariya Eduardovna Zarubina. Oksana Anatolyevna Zhivenkova. Svetlana Antonovna Putina. Tatyana Vladimirovna Aliyeva. Yuliya Petrovna Loginovskaya. Then there was Viktoriya Viktorovna Dubrovskaya and Nika Stanislavovna Belinskaya; after Valya, they were my best friends at the _Akademiya_."

Seeing the devastated tears in her eyes, Will got up and moved to her side. Lifting her carefully from her seat, he sat and settled her against his chest. For the first time in her life, Marina took the opportunity she was being offered and began to sob. She cried for her murdered father, her destroyed childhood, her lost innocence and for the lives of the women she had once known and called family. One by one, each of the brothers got up from their chairs and gathered around her, laying a hand on her and offering her the same love and support she had always given them freely.

It was a long time before she stopped crying.

Jason was right, and as soon as they were back stateside, Marina insisted on a memorial for the women who had died in Croatia. Will and Marina had always planned to buy a place together in New York City, and it was in a little cemetery outside the city that Marina purchased a small plot with enough space for a dozen tombstones. In the center of the little plot stood a single statue of a homely girl with a deformed right hand, whom Marina referred to simply as The Saint. It took Jason about an hour to link the statue of the woman with Saint Germaine Cousin, the patron saint of abused children and young women. Each woman who had died in Croatia was given a marker there, with flowers placed on each headstone every Christmas, Easter and birthday. Marina cared for the little plot tenderly, refusing to allow anyone else to do so, choosing to remember the women as the girls they were before the Academy transformed them into assassins.

Over the next year, the Brothers Grimm encountered several other Red Room assassins while they were on assignments. Some were women she had known, and others were not. Each time Will kept his promise. If he could, he offered them the chance to defect, to do something different with their lives. Many took the offer, each knowing that soon Russia would have no more use for them and there would be little to stop their handlers from turning on them. They took their newfound freedom and simply disappeared, taking what they had learned and hiding from any who sought them out. Others refused Will's offer, and it was after the deaths of these women that Will would hold Marina in his arms as she wept late at night, after their headstones were erected in her plot and they were alone in their quarters.

The Brothers Grimm were deployed to Bangui, Central African Republic, in May of 1996, when everything changed again the day Three Star General Nicholas Fury showed up and demanded a meeting with the by now notorious Major Marina Petrovka, former KGB spy and current officer in the United States Army.

Nineteen year old Capt Clint Grimm leaned up against the wall and frowned as he watched Marina change from her fatigues into her dress greens. Her 29 year old Lt. Colonel was overseeing a bombing operation, in which 25 year old Capt Jason Grimm was in charge of communications and 21 year old PFC Kenneth Grimm was manning one of the heavy guns. The order to report had come while all three were unavailable, and Clint was certain that there was a rat. "Marina, you can't seriously be meeting with this guy."

Marina glanced back over her shoulder with a wry grin as she stripped off her soiled khaki tanks and hauled on a clean white undershirt. After living in the same quarters for so long, none of the Brothers Grimm were squeamish about their modesty around each other, and Marina was in too much of a hurry to even pretend any. "_Dorogoy_, he's a General and he wants to see me. I can hardly refuse a superior officer."

Clint pouted, slouching backward against the wall and folding his arms petulantly across his chest. "I don't like it, Marishka."

Marina hurriedly buttoned up her uniform shirt and began to tuck it into her pants. "I know you don't, _dorogoy_. And admittedly, I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to trust me."

"I trust you fine. It's him I don't trust."

The brunette pulled on the drab green coat and fumbled nervously with her necktie, before Clint stepped forward to swat her hands away and fasten it for her. "You're nervous."

"Of course I'm nervous. The only time the brass ever wants to see me is if they have some new question about my loyalties. I've never met this one; and I don't know how to approach the interview."

Clint nodded calmly, fingers nimble on the buttons of her coat as Marina fidgeted helplessly. "Do you want me to call Will? Screw the mission; you know he'd ditch it in a heartbeat if you were in trouble."

"No!" Marina squeaked, eyes flashing wide. "Don't tell Will. You'll only freak him out. I don't worry as much about you guys when he's the voice on comms. We don't know that there's any reason to worry yet. Just . . . let me meet with General Fury, and then we'll figure out what to do from there."

The teenager's hands were warm and familiar on her shoulders as he held them firmly, his steely grey eyes staring calmly into her slightly more panicked chocolate brown. "You're sure?"

"No, but it's the only plan I've got."

Clint chuckled, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he hugged her lightly. "It'll be okay, Marishka. He threatens you, we'll kick his ass. Simple as that."

The pretty brunette laughed outright at the thought of the Brothers Grimm beating up a three star general for her, even as she acknowledged that they would totally do it if they thought the man was trying to upset her in any way. "Thank you, _dorogoy_. I needed to hear that."

The responding grin was sly and wicked as the teenaged sniper agreed, "I know. Go on. Don't want to keep the general waiting."

Marina snapped off a cocky salute, getting an equally sarcastic one in return, before she took a deep breath and left the barracks behind. She was led by a stone faced gentleman in a suit to a conference room inside Base Command, the other man speaking only once they were stopped at the door. "General Fury is not a man who appreciates being kept waiting."

Her lip curled angrily at the implied threat. "And I'm not a woman who appreciates being coerced. I have a twitchy trigger finger, and you're not Army. So I would keep that in mind, Suit," she snarled, before turning to the door and essentially ignoring the man's existence.

Moving inside the conference room, she stopped just inside the door, her body ramrod straight and her eyes on the wall over the man's head as she snapped off as respectful a salute as she felt was necessary. "Major Marina Petrovka reporting, as requested, sir."

The tall black man hummed an absent agreement, flicking away her salute with a careless disregard for protocol and gesturing toward the empty chair across from him. "Shut the door, Major, and come sit with me. I have a proposal for you."

Marina's eyes narrowed suspiciously, as she remained standing where she was. "What kind of proposal, General Fury sir?

Fury flashed her a shark's grin, his one visible eye twinkling with amusement as he gestured once again to the chair across the table from him. "Come sit, Major."

Unable to see any way to avoid it, Marina moved cautiously toward the chair. Sitting down, she only just noticed the files laid out on the table in front of the man. They were separated into two stacks, one of the piles containing an extra file that was much thicker than any of the other files on the table. The man reached across the table, offering her his hand. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, Major Petrovka. My name is Director Nick Fury. While I was once a general in the Army, I have been retired for some years now. Currently, I head up the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"The what!?"

"We prefer the moniker S.H.I.E.L.D., Major Petrovka. I would assume you've met my subordinate, Agent Coulson."

"Is he the blank faced _govnoyed_ who brought me here?"

Fury laughed with a nod. "I think you'd probably like him, Major, under different circumstances. I get the feeling that you both take the same extreme care with those charges you call your own."

Marina's eyes narrowed at the use of the word, her voice a low growl as she asked, "Charges?"

There was that shark's grin again as Fury flipped open one of the files on the table and tossed it in front of her. Taped to the inside cover was a picture of a 12 year old William Cahill and Marina felt her eyes widen as her heart stopped in her chest. "Why, the Brothers Cahill, of course, Major Petrovka. Or should I say, Miss Peters?"

**Notes:**

Here are the Russian translations for the chapter:  
Sladkiy - Honey (Marina's nickname for Jason)

Samaya Malen'kaya - My Little One (Will's nickname for Marina)

Valya - an intimate diminuitive of Valentina used by family and friends

Kto . . . - who is . . .

Sibir' – Siberia

Кемерово - Cryllic for Kemerovo, a city in Siberia

Gospozha - the Madam (of the Academy)

Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Republik - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or U.S.S.R.

Papy – Daddy

Materi Rossii - Mother Russia

Akademiya - The Academy

sobaka – dog

Materi Rossii i yeye Suprugi - Mother Russia and her Consorts (leaders)

Gadyuka – Viper

SSHA (Soyedinennyye Shtaty Ameriki)- USA (United States of America)

Kholodnaya Voyna - the Cold War (espionage war between USA and Soviet Union)

Yebat – Fuck

Misha - intimate diminuitive for Michael (Will's middle name)

Dorogoy - Darling (Marina's nickname for Clint)

Govnoyed - Bastard


End file.
